重力场流分离技术的现状与发展趋势

Current situation and development trend of gravitational field-flow fractionation

重力场流分离是技术和原理上最简单的一种场流分离技术,利用重力场作为外加场,应用范围广泛,常用于分离表征粒径几微米到几百微米的颗粒及生物样品。因其操作简单、易于维护、成本低、分析时间短、条件温和等优点受到越来越多的关注。本文对重力场流分离技术的原理、应用及发展现状进行总结,并重点介绍了其在微米颗粒及生物样品分离中的应用,同时对各种检测方法进行系统全面的比较,并对其发展前景进行展望。

Gravitational field-flow fractionation （ GrFFF ） is one of the simplest field-flow fractionation techniques in terms of technique and principle. GrFFF uses Earth＇s gravity as external field. It has applications in a wide range of fields, and is usually applied to separate and characterize particles and biological samples ranging from a few up to several hundred micrometers in diameter. It has attracted increasing attention due to some intrinsic advantages, such as easy-operation and maintenance, low cost, short analysis time and gentle experimental conditions. In this paper, principle and application status of GrFFF are reviewed, and emphasized on its applications in separation of micrometer-sized particles and biological samples. Besides, a systematical and comprehensive comparison of various detection methods is made and the future developments in GrFFF are prospected.